458 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Shrimps for an Italian neighbour, who was exceedingly fond 

 of them, having acquired the taste when in Naples. I was 

 curious to sample them, and ate one or two. They were cer- 

 tainly not bad eating, and very much like a Grab in flavour. 

 One only wanted good teeth to really appreciate them. In July 

 I met with another cephalopod that greatly interested me. I 

 saw it entangled in the meshes of a small Breydon trawl, hung 

 up to dry, as I was rowing past. Curiosity prompted me to 

 "rescue" it, when its pointed "tail" and comparatively long 

 fin-like appendages struck me as differing from those of Loligo 

 vulgaris. On comparing it later with an example in the Bio- 

 logical Station at Lowestoft, i was pleased to find it L. media, 

 and as such new to my list. 



In the summer of 1906 the Aldeburgh Smelt-fishing appears 

 to have been a failure. This the ignorant fishermen laid to the 

 blame of the few pairs of Terns still nesting annually at Orford 

 Ness, and forthwith petitioned " the powers that be" to withdraw 

 protection, and let them be slaughtered off. This had not yet 

 been decided upon when the Sprat fishery also turned out a 

 failure ; no Sprats visited Southwold Bay, nor did they put 

 in an appearance until the last week in November. This was 

 attributed to the Herrings working a little further south than 

 usual ! As the Terns were gone they could not lay it to their 

 charge. The first indictment was an entirely erroneous one, 

 for the Common and Little Tern feed chiefly on the herring-syle 

 ("whitebait ") that teems in local waters during their stay. A 

 Lowestoft gentleman, who has daily records of the sea's tempera- 

 ture, informed me that this has been unusually high, and did 

 not fall to 49° in Lowestoft Harbour until November 25th, Big 

 Herring shoals are not met with until a much lower temperature 

 ensues. I have no hesitation in saying that the influences of 

 tidal currents and the temperature of the water largely ruled the 

 movements of both Smelts and Sprats. 



